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A review by brizreading
The Best American Comics 2016 by Bill Kartalopoulos, Roz Chast
2.0
This should really be called Best American Indie Autobiographical Adult Comics That Are Not Graphic Novels or Ongoing Comics like Saga.
I was pretty disappointed; there was a very heavy weighting towards autobiographical zine-style web comics, many with just okay craft (in other words, ugly drawings :/). I find that whole sub-genre incredibly self-indulgent and boring. Like, dudes, we can aaalll draw shitty drawings about how we feel shitty sometimes - or (EVEN WORSE) felt shitty once when we were teens (OMG PLZ NO MORE ABOUT HOW EMO YOUR TEENAGE YEARS WERE). Aaghh. I feel like an asshole, since the autobio comix are often "pour your heart out about your gritty mental health issue", and so it feels especially mean to dislike it. BUT I DO.
I think there's more to the craft of comix than just panel pacing and panel structure. The actual art inside, the dialogue, and A PLOT!
Even the relatively better-crafted stuff, like the comic by Adrian Tomine, was centered around an excruciatingly painful family dynamic (stuttering, deluded daughter trying her hand at amateur standup while cancer-ridden mom is super supportive and cynical dad is frustrated and NOT supportive). That was one of the better ones - there was a lot of skill in how Tomine unveiled the dynamic, and the drawings were great. But I was, by the end of the book and having read N more similar emo-gutter-porn, like, JEEZ IS THERE ONLY ONE SETTING ON THIS THING?
I was pretty disappointed; there was a very heavy weighting towards autobiographical zine-style web comics, many with just okay craft (in other words, ugly drawings :/). I find that whole sub-genre incredibly self-indulgent and boring. Like, dudes, we can aaalll draw shitty drawings about how we feel shitty sometimes - or (EVEN WORSE) felt shitty once when we were teens (OMG PLZ NO MORE ABOUT HOW EMO YOUR TEENAGE YEARS WERE). Aaghh. I feel like an asshole, since the autobio comix are often "pour your heart out about your gritty mental health issue", and so it feels especially mean to dislike it. BUT I DO.
I think there's more to the craft of comix than just panel pacing and panel structure. The actual art inside, the dialogue, and A PLOT!
Even the relatively better-crafted stuff, like the comic by Adrian Tomine, was centered around an excruciatingly painful family dynamic (stuttering, deluded daughter trying her hand at amateur standup while cancer-ridden mom is super supportive and cynical dad is frustrated and NOT supportive). That was one of the better ones - there was a lot of skill in how Tomine unveiled the dynamic, and the drawings were great. But I was, by the end of the book and having read N more similar emo-gutter-porn, like, JEEZ IS THERE ONLY ONE SETTING ON THIS THING?